It’s common for people to use real mental illnesses to describe the way they feel, or how someone else is acting. However, using mental illnesses as adjectives stigmatizes mental illness more than it already is, and detracts from the seriousness of these conditions.

Having a bad day or feeling sad is not the same as having depression or being depressed. Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, and a serious medical condition that can be debilitating in many cases. Depression isn’t just feeling down; it affects your daily life, deteriorates physical health, and is painful. Just because depressive disorders are fairly common in the US doesn’t mean everyone has depression. Saying “I’m so depressed today” or “That’s making me feel depressed” denotes the seriousness of the disease. It’s completely normal to have a rough day or find something really sad or upsetting without having depression.

As I go through my day at school, I hear countless students reference anxiety, even though they’ve never been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Teens tend to confuse the stress of school and life with anxiety, though the two are different. The difference between stress and anxiety is that stress is our body’s response to a situation, while anxiety is a direct reaction to the stress. Everyone experiences stress, whether it be the good kind, eustress, or distress, the bad type. Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder in the US, so it’s pretty common, especially in teenagers. However, anxiety can be debilitating and is a serious medical condition, unlike stress, which is much easier to manage.

Occasionally not being able to focus or getting bored in class easily isn’t the same as ADD. Having Attention Deficit Disorder makes it impossible for me to focus and get anything done if I forget to take my medication. Before I started taking medication, I couldn’t concentrate on anything during classes or do homework when I got home from school. At first, I thought it was just procrastination that took away my motivation to get anything done, but that was just my ADD talking. Now, that doesn’t mean that anyone who is unable to focus or gets distracted easily has ADD or ADHD, because distractibility and procrastination are very common.

Reminders of an event that you would rather not remember are not remotely similar to having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so please stop saying something is “giving you PTSD” because it’s probably not. PTSD is caused by a traumatic life event and causes flashbacks, among other symptoms. Sure, everyone has moments and experiences they don’t want to repeat, but that’s not PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder changes the way you see the world and how you go about living your life. The reason for its onset varies by the individual, but veterans of war and other people who have suffered a severe trauma tend to develop symptoms.

Everything I have mentioned brings me to my final point. The use of the word “triggered” has manifested itself into daily conversation among teens, taking it completely out of its original context. A trigger is something that causes an emotional response, commonly associated with PTSD, and makes someone recall a past event. Media has turned this word in meaning something that bothers someone, which is not the true meaning. For the sake of everyone that genuinely suffers from PTSD, please stop saying you’re “triggered”, because in all honestly, you’re just annoyed.

Mental health as a whole is still incredibly stigmatized, despite efforts to normalize it. I believe one of the main reasons for this is that the media glorifies mental illness and encourages people to follow suit. Treating these conditions with a lack of seriousness leads people to falsely believe that they’re not as serious as they are. As a high schooler, I constantly hear fellow students using mental illness as adjectives, though they are not. With that being said, I strongly encourage everyone to stop doing so on behalf of the millions of people across the nation that suffer from various mental health conditions.